Shards Online pumps up early access hype with a community roundtable

Last week we reported that Shards Online is winding down its alpha program and gearing up for Steam early access launch sometime in the next few months. As a follow-up to this and other improvements to the game, the team sat down for a community roundtable to talk about the next phase of Shards Online’s development.

Topics include expanding loyalty options in the store, the week-long head start, the confirmation of a full wipe with the Steam launch, rewarding players retroactively with extra loyalty, the possibility for minigames, and the assurance that PvE players will have a lot of area to romp around without worrying about being ganked.

Drink in the full community roundtable and the alpha feature highlights video after the break!

I didn’t think it was the worst idea ever, but at the same time trying to access a stress test where the goal of a number of players was to constantly gank everyone (especially in the starting room, where after a few minutes of fighting they so outclassed everyone that it wasn’t even close to a fight) and prevent them playing was stupid.

I might consider a little time, given enough of a chance to avoid that. It really depends on how well everything else comes together. That, and being able to avoid having to start in a common room where such things can occur. If that remains a factor they can kiss any attempt to get me to play goodbye.

A lot of the ganking problems will clear up when the new map rolls out. They’ve definitely heard the feedback on that sort of thing. I hadn’t considered folks ganking in Limbo before. That sounds really frustrating.

I think it will really take off when it hits Early Access. When the new map is out, the game is really going to be a blast. It’s more complete already than the majority of Early Access games, at least in my experience.